There will be no national championship hoopla for Simon Fraser University at this year’s NCAA Division II men’s soccer championships.
In their national debut last season, the Clan came out flat and lost 3-1 to mid-ranked Saginaw Valley in the semifinals after making NCAA history as the first non-American school to ever reach the coveted final four.
But second place is not good enough for this year’s Clan, and though there are a dozen new faces on the SFU roster this season, SFU head coach Alan Koch believes the experience from 2012 will help this time around.
“Last season, we made it to the final four; this season, we are going to the semifinals,” said SFU head coach Alan Koch of next week’s matchup at the NCAA Div. II finals in Evans, Georgia. “It was all glitz and glamour last year; this year, we’re getting ready for the next match.”
Like last season, SFU had no easy road to a second consecutive West region title.
“It’s been an emotional rollercoaster,” said Koch. “They keep writing us off, and they seeded us ridiculously low this year.”
The Clan spent 11 days in the past two weeks away from home, where they knocked off two top regional seeds, including Regis University 5-0 in the West Region finals before the Rangers’ hometown crowd in Denver, Colorado last Sunday.
Earlier, SFU also squeaked by two top California sides, scoring a 2-1 overtime win over region champ Cal State Los Angeles in Round 2, before coming back to best Cal State San Diego in a shootout to move on to the final four.
SFU had been ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation at one point in the season but was rated no better than a No. 4 seed coming out of the West region despite winning a fourth consecutive Great Northwest conference title.
To further muddle the rankings, previously unbeaten and No. 1 overall Lindenwood was knocked off in the quarter-finals by previously unranked Rockhurst.
SFU will meet another unranked entity in the semis, when they face upstart Carson-Newman University on Dec. 5 in a battle of regional fourth seeds.
Carson-Newman boasts a top striker in Ross Frame, whose 18 goals lists him seventh among the top Div. II scorers in the nation.
The South Atlantic conference third-place finisher is a good all-around team with a solid goalkeeper, said Koch.
But Carson-Newman is more in line with where SFU was last year, when it advanced to its first-ever semifinal.
“There is a stigma attached to (the final four). It’s like you made it, but this is not finished. The goal is to win the next game, and that’s what we plan on doing,” Koch said.
On paper, the Clan should have the upper hand against the unranked Tennessee school.
Since moving to the NCAA, SFU has rewritten the record book in the Great Northwest conference, with last year’s team setting new standards for goals, assists, points, shots and corner kicks in a single season. The Clan also holds the record for 24 consecutive wins or ties, set from 2011 to 2012.
In Sunday’s quarter-final win, Alexander Kleefeldt’s counter broke the old record of 73 goals in a season.
The Clan currently leads the nation in in Div. II scoring offence, averaging 3.41 goals per game.
But SFU’s stout defence and goalkeeping cannot be overlooked, having just allowed 17 goals to date this season.
“We’re an excellent attacking team, and (goalie) Brandon Watson is fantastic, and our team defence has set the stage for us to be successful,” added Koch. “But honestly, we’re not even thinking about (the final). We’re just focusing on the next game. It sounds like a cliché, but you got to win a semifinal first.”
